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> But alas, iMessage pressure is real in my friend's group. I've never had this from my friends. I read about this all the time and all I can think is, "Why wo

> But alas, iMessage pressure is real in my friend's group. I've never had this from my friends. I read about this all the time and all I can think is, "Why would I be friends with people who care about that enough to peer pressure me into using an iPhone?"

_fzslm 7y ago
It sounds super common in the US. In the UK, we either settle with Messenger (ugh, but at least it's cross-platform) or WhatsApp.
dkonofalski 7y ago
Because there are some huge, genuinely great benefits to using it. No one really cares that much but, when the difference between the two experiences is as great as it currently is, it really affects the conversation. For example, we don't really pressure friends to buy iPhones but we legitimately have a separate conversation group for just iOS users from the main SMS group chat so we can send images, video, or other media at full quality. Most of us are pretty tech savvy too so we're not really keen on using WhatsApp or Telegram or any of the other dirty data apps.
- snazz 7y ago
  iMessage sends messages via cell data (or WiFi) too, if that’s what you meant by “dirty data app”.
  - dkonofalski 7y ago
    No, I mean "dirty data" as in all your data is collected and there's very little transparency regarding what those apps/companies are doing with your data. I haven't exhaustively tested all these apps but I have tested a few and know that Apple doesn't send any information or data from iMessage to their servers that isn't encrypted on-device. Unlike these other apps, Apple couldn't leak your data or usage from these apps because it's never collected in the first place.
- shaklee3 7y ago
  What are the great benefits? As far as I can tell, Google voice + Hangouts has all the features and more.
  - dkonofalski 7y ago
    >Google voice + Hangouts has all the features and more Most of the features and a boat-load of data and privacy concerns to go along with it.
mnm1 7y ago
Seriously. In the meantime, the rest of the world all uses WhatsApp. For group chat it's hard to beat. I use signal with family and some friends but getting people to switch is impossible. And allegedly it has group chat but it's not obvious how that works even to a techie like me. Asking people to switch phone platforms is ridiculous, especially people from poorer countries where an iPhone costs at least a couple months' salary. Lately I've also used keybase with another friend and it seems promising but the user base is almost nonexistent.

_fzslm 7y ago

It sounds super common in the US. In the UK, we either settle with Messenger (ugh, but at least it's cross-platform) or WhatsApp.

dkonofalski 7y ago

Because there are some huge, genuinely great benefits to using it. No one really cares that much but, when the difference between the two experiences is as great as it currently is, it really affects the conversation. For example, we don't really pressure friends to buy iPhones but we legitimately have a separate conversation group for just iOS users from the main SMS group chat so we can send images, video, or other media at full quality. Most of us are pretty tech savvy too so we're not really keen on using WhatsApp or Telegram or any of the other dirty data apps.

snazz 7y ago
iMessage sends messages via cell data (or WiFi) too, if that’s what you meant by “dirty data app”.
- dkonofalski 7y ago
  No, I mean "dirty data" as in all your data is collected and there's very little transparency regarding what those apps/companies are doing with your data. I haven't exhaustively tested all these apps but I have tested a few and know that Apple doesn't send any information or data from iMessage to their servers that isn't encrypted on-device. Unlike these other apps, Apple couldn't leak your data or usage from these apps because it's never collected in the first place.
shaklee3 7y ago
What are the great benefits? As far as I can tell, Google voice + Hangouts has all the features and more.
- dkonofalski 7y ago
  >Google voice + Hangouts has all the features and more Most of the features and a boat-load of data and privacy concerns to go along with it.

mnm1 7y ago

Seriously. In the meantime, the rest of the world all uses WhatsApp. For group chat it's hard to beat. I use signal with family and some friends but getting people to switch is impossible. And allegedly it has group chat but it's not obvious how that works even to a techie like me. Asking people to switch phone platforms is ridiculous, especially people from poorer countries where an iPhone costs at least a couple months' salary. Lately I've also used keybase with another friend and it seems promising but the user base is almost nonexistent.